Private School Seeks Assistance
To meet rising operational costs, the self-funding school was looking for alternative sources of funding to keep afloat.
Fundraising to pay for teachers salaries while attempting to improve infrastructure is becoming an immediate operational challenge for Pacific Harbour Multicultural School, says principal Darren Perrett.
The privately-operated primary school and kindergarten currently caters for 144 students from the surrounding villages of Waidradra, Galoa Village, Wainiyabia and other nearby communities at Pacific Harbour.
To meet rising operational costs, Mr Perrett said the self-funding school was looking for alternative sources of funding to keep afloat.
“The school has grown with a number of Fijian families wanting to send their kids to the school because of the lower roll numbers,” Mr Perrett said.
“We try to keep all our class numbers at 25 so students can actually engage with literacy and numeracy. “We need two new classrooms, the buildings needs renovation and we have to pay for teachers’ salaries among other overhead costs, so we are looking for corporate sponsors or any kind of assistance to help us out.”
Mr Perrett said 92 per cent of the students were local Fijian students and their parents do not make the kind of money to be able to financially support the school.
“I want to make sure that by the time I leave, I set up something special that can cater for the kids from Galoa Village, Waidradra and nearby communities,” he said.
“We have some kids from Galoa Village who could not pass their Year Six, so their parents are making a commitment to send them here so that with the lesser roll numbers they get more attention from teachers. “Those are the kids I am worried about, I do not want them to give up because of the money situation.”
The school has grown with a number of Fijian families wanting to send their kids to the school because of the lower roll numbers. Darren Perrett, School principal.